Re: Why don't black people go to Coachella?

I bought frozen lemonade from a black guy this year. It truly was the most culturally diverse moment of my entire Coachella, considering I spent most of my time seeing acts like Neko Case that only age 25-40 white people attended.

But seriously, I've actually never thought about the ethnicity spread at Coachella until now. And I doubt I'll think about it again.

Re: Why don't black people go to Coachella?

From Wikipedia...

As of 2004, 373,100 people resided in Coachella Valley. The racial makeup was 44.7% Non-Hispanic White, 49.9% Hispanic, 1.8% Black/African American, 2.1% Asian/Pacific Islander, 0.4% American Indian and Inuit, 0.1% from other races, and 1.1% from two or more races.

Originally Posted by SepaGroove

You shouldn't feel uncool for not going to EDC, you should feel uncool because you are uncool.

Re: Why don't black people go to Coachella?

As hard as it may be for some of us diehards to believe, I could see that a substantial portion of the Coachella line-up doesn't really appeal to a large number of African-Americans.

I remember reading the liner-notes to Bettye LaVette's Interpretations a few years back, where she did soul versions on a dozen or so classic British Rock tunes from the 60s and 70s.

Here was a woman, a professional soul singer for 30-40 years, yet she copped to never having heard Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here or the Moody Blues Nights In White Satin or The Stones Salt of the Earth prior to the making of that record. A white classic rock/best albums of the year-type nerd myself, I initially found the statement shocking, but then realized how myopic a perspective that was. Just because Rolling Stone, Spin and Pitchfork call something great doesn't mean the rest of the world holds the same beliefs.

As broad ranging as it tries to be, and as much as the demographics of the nation and Coachella's audience are shifting, Coachella is still fundamentally a festival conceived by and curated for a middle-to-upper class white indie, alternative, punk, classic rock and electronica listener, and most of the metal, hip-hop, funk, and world music acts added into the fold are those that have proven cross over appeal with said audience. I love the festival because I share this same sensibility...but many do not.